Effect of the Relationship between Respiratory Interval and Temporal Resolution on Image Quality in Free-breathing Abdominal MR Imaging.

Purpose: To evaluate how the relationship between respiratory interval (RI) and temporal resolution (TR) impacts image quality in free-breathing abdominal MRI (FB-aMRI) using golden-angle radial sparse parallel (GRASP).

Methods: Ten healthy volunteers (25.9 ± 2.5 years, four women) underwent 2 mins free-breathing fat-suppression T1-weighted imaging using GRASP at RIs of 3 and 5s (RI₃ and RI₅, respectively) and retrospectively reconstructed at TR of 1.8, 2.9, 4.8, and 7.7s (TR_1.8, TR_2.9, TR_4.8, and TR_7.7, respectively) in each patient. The standard deviation (SD) under the diaphragm was measured using SD maps showing the discrepancy for each horizontal section at all TRs. Two radiologists evaluated image quality (visualization of the right hepatic vein at the confluence of the inferior vena cava, posterior segment branch of portal vein, pancreas, left kidney, and artifacts) at all TRs using a 5-point scale.

Results: The SD was significantly higher at TR_1.8 compared to TR_4.8 (P < 0.01) and TR_7.7 (P < 0.001), as well as at TR_2.9 compared to TR_7.7 (P < 0.01) for both RIs. The SD between TR_4.8 and TR_7.7 did not differ for both RIs. For all visual assessment metrics, the TR_1.8 scores were significantly lower than the TR_4.8 and TR_7.7 scores for both RIs. The pancreas and left kidney scores at TR_2.9 were significantly lower than those at TR_7.7 (P < 0.05) for RI₅. Additionally, the left kidney score at TR_1.8 was lower than that at TR_2.9 (P < 0.05) for RI₃. All scores at TR_2.9, TR_4.8, and TR_7.7 were similar for RI₃, while those at TR_4.8 and TR_7.7 were similar for RI₅.

Conclusion: Prolonging the TRs compared to RIs enhances image quality in FB-aMRI using GRASP.